Aikido Pioneers, Prewar Era

Aikido Pioneers, Prewar Era
Author: Stanley Pranin
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9781737025603

Aikido Pioneers tells the captivating story of the birth of aikido, based on the first-hand accounts of Ueshiba's top students prior to World War II. The interviews contained in Aikido Pioneers have been edited from hundred of hours of conversations conducted over a 30-year period with those closest to the founder.

Aikido Pioneers - Prewar Era

Aikido Pioneers - Prewar Era
Author: Stanley Pranin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2010-08
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9784904464175

Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) drew on his extensive martial arts experience as a young man, fusing this knowledge with his deeply-held religious beliefs, to create the modern self-defense art of Aikido.During his long career, Ueshiba associated with some of prewar Japan's most colorful characters, including famous jujutsu master Sokaku Takeda, the charismatic religious leader Onisaburo Deguchi, and numerous members of Japan's military, political, and business elite. Here is the captivating story of the birth of aikido, based on the first-hand accounts of Ueshiba's top students prior to World War II.The interviews contained in "Aikido Pioneers - Prewar Era" have been meticulously edited from hundreds of hours of conversations conducted over a 30-year period with those closest to the Founder. These early devotees of the art offer an insightful portrayal of the character of the Aikido Founder, and a detailed description of his teaching and activities, spanning nearly half a century. More than 100 photos, many published for the first time, add an important visual dimension to the testimonies of the interviewees. This is an essential volume for those desiring to discover the roots of Aikido, a true cultural treasure of Japan

Takemusu Aikido, Volume 1: Background and Basics

Takemusu Aikido, Volume 1: Background and Basics
Author: Morihiro Saito
Publisher:
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2000-09
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9784900586161

This work, "Takemusu Aikido, Volume 1: Background & Basics," is the first of Morhiro Saito s new comprehensive series of Aikido technical manuals. Saito Sensei, 9th dan, and one of Aikido s leading experts, presents more than sixty variations of ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo, and yonkyo techniques, the most essential of the art s basic forms. Illustrated with over 600 photographs and accompanied by clear and detailed step-by-step explanations, "Background & Basics" provides an indispensable guide for both beginning and advanced practitioners. Morihiro Saito, is the author of the highly acclaimed technical series, "Traditional Aikido," published in the early 1970s. Saito enrolled as a student of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba in 1946. One of the art s foremost technicians, he was the acknowledged authority on aikido weapons training. Saito operated Ueshiba s private dojo in Iwama, Japan and served as guardian of the Aiki Shrine for more than 30 years. He traveled extensively throughout the world teaching his comprehensive aikido training methods for three decades.Stanley A. Pranin is a 5th degree black belt and editor-in-chief of "Aikido Journal." Pranin began Aikido practice in 1962 and started training under Morihiro Saito in Iwama in 1977. He served as Saito Sensei s interpreter at numerous international seminars during the 1980s. Pranin is the author of "The Aiki News Encyclopedia of Aikido" and "Aikido Pioneers - Prewar Era," a collection of interviews with early disciples of the Founder of Aikido.

Aikido

Aikido
Author: Gozo Shioda
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-02-08
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1568364113

In this first full autobiographical work, the legendary aikido grandmaster Gozo Shioda tells of his exciting life. Born in Tokyo in 1915, Shioda excelled as a student of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido. He went on to win first place in the All Japan Martial Arts Exhibition in 1954; and later, founded the Yoshinkan school of aikido, considered a "hard" style for its rigorous training techniques and emphasis on correct form. In 1988, Shioda was awarded the title of Aikido Master by the International Martial Arts Federation. Over the course of his distinguisehd career, he also served as the chief instructor for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the Air Self-defense Force, the Japanese National Railways, and a number of leading Japanese universities. In Aikido: My Spiritual Journey, Shioda relates moving, personal anecdotes about Ueshiba and imparts what he learned from his mentor. He offers a concise overview of the key elements of aikido, including breath power, focused power, and the power of the center line. About 20 rare photos of the author, chronicling his life in aikido, are also included. Yasuhisa Shioda, the author’s son and himself a prominent figure in the aikido world, has contributed the Afterword to this volume.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Hidden in Plain Sight
Author: Ellis Amdur
Publisher: Freelance Academy Press
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2018-04-27
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 193743950X

Ellis Amdur's writing on martial arts has been groundbreaking. In Dueling with O-sensei, he challenged practitioners that the moral dimension of martial arts is expressed in acts of integrity, not spiritual platitudes and the deification of fantasized warrior-sages. In Old School, he applied both academic rigor and keen observation towards some of the classical martial arts of Japan, leavening his writing with vivid descriptions of many of the actual practitioners of these wonderful traditions. His first edition of Hidden in Plain Sight was a discussion of esoteric training methods once common, but now all but lost within Japanese martial arts. These methodologies encompassed mental imagery, breath-work, and a variety of physical techniques, offering the potential to develop skills and power sometimes viewed as nearly superhuman. Usually believed to be the provenance of Chinese martial arts, Amdur asserted that elements of such training still remain within a few martial traditions: literally, 'hidden in plain sight.' Two-thirds larger, this second edition is so much more. Amdur digs deep into the past, showing the complexity of human strength, its adaptation to varying lifestyles, and the nature of physical culture pursued for martial ends. Amdur goes into detail concerning varieties of esoteric power training within martial arts, culminating in a specific methodology known as 'six connections' or 'internal strength.' With this discussion as a baseline, he then discusses the transfer of esoteric power training from China to various Japanese jujutsu systems as well as Japanese swordsman-ship emanating from the Kurama traditions. Finally, he delves into the innovative martial tradition of Daito-ryu and its most important offshoot, aikido, showing how the mercurial, complicated figures of Takeda Sokaku and Morihei Ueshiba were less the embodiment of something new, than a re-imagining of their past.

Budo

Budo
Author: Morihei Ueshiba
Publisher: Vertical Inc
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-06-21
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1568364873

Morihei Ueshiba is rightly known as one of the world's greatest martial artists for his creation of aikido, the synthesis of his superb technique and his profound spiritual insight into the nature of the universe. Aikido is much more than just another fighting style, it is a holistic approach to life that Morihei described as "a divine path inspired by the gods that leads to truth, goodness, and beauty." Sadly, Morihei left few writings to explain his martial arts philosophy, preferring to teach his disciples by direct example. Aikido students will be familiar with photographs and film footage of Morihei as an old man, effortlessly defeating his much younger opponents, but very little has been published about Morihei's prewar years, when he was perfecting aiki-budo, as aikido was then known. In 1938 Morihei wrote Budo (Martial Way) as an instruction manual and a statement of the aims and spirit of his martial arts philosophy. Budo, however, was never made available to the general public, and it even contains the injunction that "these techniques ... should not be disclosed indiscriminately to the public." Now with the worldwide popularity of aikido rivaling that of judo and karate-do, the Aikikai Foundation and the Ueshiba family have decided that it is time for this historic treatise of the martial arts to be translated into English, and made available to general readers and students of aikido all over the world. Reproduced faithfully from the original, this seminal work contains one of the founder's few personal statements of his basic principles, expressed both in prose and mystical poetry. The text is accompanied by photographs of Morihei illustrating the aikido techniques he describes. This martial arts classic is preceded by an introductory biographical essay on Morihei by his son Kisshomaru Ueshiba, the present chairman of the Aikikai Foundation. This enlightening work recounts the founder's early life, his inspirational 'encounter with the religious mystic Onisaburo Deguchi, and the spiritual revelations that led him to develop the art of aikido. The volume concludes with a series of action photographs of the founder demonstrating aikido techniques, taken at a private dojo in Tokyo in 1936. This section also includes selected photographs of Morihei in action in 1951. The more than 400 historic photographs shown here provide an unequalled opportunity to observe the lifelong devotion to aikido and the continuity of performance that characterized Morihei's approach to his art.

Remembering O-Sensei

Remembering O-Sensei
Author: Susan Perry
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2002-11-12
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0834829460

Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969), founder of the Japanese martial art of Aikido, is one of the greatest and most beloved martial artists in history. Remembering O-Sensei is a portrait of Ueshiba as told by his uchi-deshi, the students who lived and trained with him as his disciples. This collection of memories—gathered here for the first time—captures the essence of this extraordinary martial arts master and visionary, revealing Ueshiba's teaching style, his daily habits, his philosophy of life, the lovably human aspects of his personality, and his deep belief that Aikido could be used as a means to creating peace and harmony in the world. The book also provides a snapshot of a fascinating time in Japanese history when a student would apprentice with his master by essentially moving in with him and receiving instruction through rigorous training sessions, and also by serving him and observing his actions in daily life. Most of the students whose remembrances are included in this book went on to spread the teaching of Aikido throughout the world and became masters in their own right.

The founding of Jujutsu, Judo & Aikido in the United Kingdom

The founding of Jujutsu, Judo & Aikido in the United Kingdom
Author: Abdul Rashid
Publisher: Abdul Rashid
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2020-08-25
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN:

This book covers the brief history of Jujutsu, Judo, Aikido and its impact on the United Kingdom. Starting from the Victorian era, when Edward William Barton-Wright introduced his art of Bartitsu. To the music hall demonstrations by Yukio Tani and others. Also, with the suffragettes learning martial arts to fight for equality. Following that, the arrival of Gunji Koizumi and finally Kenshiro Abbe, who sought to spread his unique philosophy of Kyushindo, eventually teaching the martial art of Aikido. A pioneer of Aikido and a direct student of Kenshiro Abbe, Henry Ellis, is a co-author, sharing his Insights on the early days of British Aikido. Travel back in time through the different eras as you read this book (Color edition)

Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge

Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge
Author: D. S. Farrer
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2011-12-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1438439687

This landmark work provides a wide-ranging scholarly consideration of the traditional Asian martial arts. Most of the contributors to the volume are practitioners of the martial arts, and all are keenly aware that these traditions now exist in a transnational context. The book's cutting-edge research includes ethnography and approaches from film, literature, performance, and theater studies. Three central aspects emerge from this book: martial arts as embodied fantasy, as a culturally embedded form of self-cultivation, and as a continuous process of identity formation. Contributors explore several popular and highbrow cultural considerations, including the career of Bruce Lee, Chinese wuxia films, and Don DeLillo's novel Running Dog. Ethnographies explored describe how the social body trains in martial arts and how martial arts are constructed in transnational training. Ultimately, this academic study of martial arts offers a focal point for new understandings of cultural and social beliefs and of practice and agency.

Invincible Warrior

Invincible Warrior
Author: John Stevens
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 269
Release: 1999-02-16
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1570623945

Invincible Warrior tells the fascinating story of the life of Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), whose quest for the true meaning of warriorship lead to the creation of the martial art called Aikido, "The Art of Peace." Ueshiba—whose name means "abundant peace"—is considered by many to be one of the greatest martial artists who ever lived. His documented ability to disarm any attacker, throw a dozen men simultaneously, and down and pin opponents without touching them has accorded his life legendary status. Invincible Warrior presents the real story behind Morihei's achievement, illuminating the man and his message. Stevens describes the people, events, and ideas that influenced Ueshiba's lifelong spiritual quest, which culminated in the development of unique teachings of Aikido. Illustrated with two hundred photographs of Morihei in action and filled with revealing anecdotes about his life and times, Invincible Warrior also offers valuable discussion of the Founder's conception of Aikido as a path of harmony and love, unifying body and mind, self and others, humans and the universe.